The story of the rear column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition

Front matter

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1

Chap.

Shelf

Chapter I. Extracts Erom Letters

Joining Stanley and Oriicers of the Expedition. — Zanzibar. — Tippu-Tib. — War between Soudanese and Zanzibaris. — Stories about Tippu-Tib. — Cape Town. — Buying dogs. — Stanley refuses carrier for Jameson's collecting-things and big rifle. — Banana Point 1

Chapter II. Diary.— Journey Up The Congo

1S87.— March 19th to April 30th.

Boma. — Ango-Ango. — Mpalaballa Mission Station. — March to Congo da Lemba. — Banza Manteka. — Day's march resembling slave-driving. — Kuilu River. — March to Yombo. — Stanley doing rear-guard. — Bartlelot sent on with Soudanese. — Sick chief. — Lutete. — Kindness of the missionaries. — Stanley settling a row. — Inkissi River. — Thief. — Stanley's punishment of chiefs. — Off to shoot hippo. — Difficulty about steamers. — Kinshassa. — Ward joins the Expedition ..

IV COJSTBNTS,

Chapter III. The Uppee Coi^go

May 1st to June 7th.

PA«B

Start up the Upper Congo. — Scenery on the Pool. — Spiders' webs. — Mswata. — Bula Matadi. — Man proposes, and God disposes. — Bolobo. — Buffalo hunt. — Jameson is informed that he is to be left at Yambuya. — Looting. — Lukulela. — Scenes with Stanley. — Equator Station. — Dine with Mr. Glave. — Uranga. ■ — Bangala. — Houssas eaten by natives. — Eever. — XJpoto. — Stanley's distrust of his officers , , , . 34

Chapter IV. Occupation Oe Yambuya

June 8th to July 31st.

Letter to Mrs. Jameson. — Pass burning villages. — Arrival at Aruwimi Eiver. — Conical-shaped huts, — Occupation of Yambuya. — Arrival of the Henry Reed. — Stanley's letter of instructions. — Re-packing bales for Emin. — Barttelot made " blood-brother" with native chief. — Rations for six months. — "Beggars must not be choosers." — Stanley's departure. — Building boma. — Extraordinary flight of butterflies. — Palaver with natives. — "Collecting" captives.— Natives capture Omari. — Woman escapes. — Uselessness of chiefs. — Gum-copal . . 60

Chapter V. Yambuya Camp

July 27th to December Slst.

Letter to Mrs. Jameson. — No news of Tippu-Tib. — Promise to protect natives. — Reported arrival of Tippu's men. — Return of deserter from Stanley's party. — His statement. — Arrival

CONTENTS. V

PAQB

of the Stanley. — Raid on the natives by Tippu- Tib's people. — Pinal departure of the Stanley. — First visit of Tippu-Tib's Arabs to Tambuya Camp. — Bonny crosses river to native village. — Abdullah punished for stealing an axe. — Jameson and Ward start for Stanley Palls. — Natives offer to make them princes. — Talisula. — Arrival at the Palls. — Eeceived by Tippu-Tib. — He explains non-arrival of men. — Native wrestling-match. — Jameson makes Tippu present of big rifle. — Eeturn to Yambuya. — Soudanese punished for theft. — Selim bin Mahommed.- — Arabs shoot down natives. — Disappointing news from Tippu-Tib. — E-umours of Stanley's return. — Barttelot and Troup start for Palls. — A man possessed by a devil. — Deserter's story. — Bonny's surgical skill, — The Major returns. — Omaha. — Report of a white man coming down river. — Presh disappointment. — Jaundice. — Arabs try to prevent trade with natives. — Burgari Mahommed steals meat from Ward's house. — Living skeletons. — . Three dreams. — Ungungu captured by Arabs. — Christmas Day. — Presh trouble between Arabs and natives . . . . 99

Chapter VI. Yambuya Camp

1888. — January 1st to Fehruary 13f^.

New Year's Day. — Natives return with captured Arab. — Barttelot and Jameson have palaver with natives. — Natives consult the oracles and inspect white men. — More reports from Stanley's deserters. — Assad Parran sees a whale. — Yisit from Arab Yenuses. — Soharus Poggei beetle. — Dead bodies floating down river. — Wretched state of Zanzibaris in camp. — One fifth of entire force lost. — Goliath beetle. — Conversation with Selim Mahommed.— Probable dangers to Mr. Stanley's force from death and desertion. — Arabs attack natives. — Arabs fight among themselves. — Natives steal canoes from Arabs.— Anniversary of Jameson's wedding. — ilore raids on the natives, — Burgari Mahommed at large. — Natives eat captured Arabs. — Burgari capturerl, and shot 177

VI CONTENTS.

Chapter VII. Kassongo

February 14th to April 26th.

CAGE

Start with the Major for Stanley Palls. — Meet a number of men from Kassongo. — Singatini. — Interview with Nzige. — No news of Stanley. — Hunting for game in the jungle. — Letter from Yambuya Camp. — Shock of earthquake. — Anxious waiting. — Sketching regarded as sorcery by Mahommedans. — Fever. — Letter from Troup. — Barttelot arranges to send Jameson to Kassongo. — Letter to Mrs. Jameson. — Start for Kassongo. — Yankewe. — Wild-looking natives. — Wamanga Eapids. — Meet men from Kassongo. — Kibonge. — Jameson writes to Stanley. — Kapruta. — Assad Earran hunts for onions. — Kasuku. — Kindness of Arab chief. — Poisoned arrows. — Piba-Piba. — Shooting hippos. — Three great chiefs. Tippu-Tib's names. — Dangerous natives. — Head men fear a night attack. — Quanga. — Nyangwe. — Kindness of Arabs. — Arrival at Kassongo. — Tippu-Tib. — Fertile country. — Salem Masudi. — Tippu agrees to provide men. — Sketching. — Jameson writes to Mr. Mackinnon. — Letter to Mrs. Jameson. — Arab customs. — Conversation with Tippu-Tib. — Muni Katomba 209

CHAPTER YIII.

RETURN TO YAMBUYA.

April 27th to June lOth.

Start back for Yambuya. — Delay at starting-point on the river. — Thirty-four of Tippu's men run away. — Tippu and Cameron. — Chiefs arrive to bid farewell to Tippu-Tib. — Miresa. — Tippu's conversation in Swahili. — Two canoes sunk. — ^A narrow escape. — Assad Farran's uselessness. — Riba-Riba. — Wacusu dance. — Cannibals. — Conversation with Tippu. —

CONTENTS, Vll

PAGE

Mimi Somai. — Kibonge. — Chimpanzees. — Tippu's account of a journey with Stanley. — Stanley Falls. — Barttelot's interview with Tippu-Tib. — Start for Tambuya. — Troup sends in application to be sent home. — Hard at work reducing loads. — Caps turn out to be bad. — Letter to Mrs. Jameson . , . . 277

Chapter IX. The Last March

June 11th to August 8th.

Final start from Yambuya Camp. — Manyemas loot the Camp. — Abdullah's village. — Muni Somai has trouble with Manyemas. Fourteen men desert. — Jameson returns to Yambuya in search of missing loads. — Selim Mahommed guarantees to recover loads and rifles. — More desertions. — Small-pox. — Muni Somai goes in search of deserters, and is fired at. — Theft of beads. — Trouble with the Muniaparas. — A long day of disaster. — Major Barttelot returns to Stanley Falls, leaving Jameson in command. — Fresh trouble with Manyemas. — Jameson arrives at Ujele. — Takes over command from Bonny. — Muni Somai utterly useless as a commander. — Mquangandy. — Letters from Earttelot ordering whole force to proceed to Unaria. — War amongst head men. — A night fusillade. — Bonny loses his way. — Muni Hamela hands over to Jameson 40,000 Enfield caps. — News of Major Barttelot's death. — Arrival at Unaria. — Interview with three head Manyemas. — Jameson off'ers reward for Sanga's arrest. — Jameson proceeds to Stanley Falls. — Finds the Manyemas camped in forest. — Meets Muni Somai. — Nasoro Masudi warns Jameson that Manyemas have threatened to shoot him. — Ariival at Stanley Falls. — Interview with Tippu. — Muni Somai tried and convicted of desertion. — Letter to Andrew Jameson. — Letter to Mrs. Jameson. — Eachid declines to accompany Jameson. — Tippu volunteers to do so for X20,000. — Trial and death of Sanga. — Jameson determines to go to Bangala in order to obtain reply from Committee. — Mr. Stanley's letter to Jameson 308 viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X. LAST SCE^s^ES

August 9ih to August ISth,

PAGB

Last Journey. — Mr. Ward's diary. — Death 367

Appendices L-XI 377-391

Facsimile of Agreement written by Mr. Jameson forms

Appendix IX.

Facsimile of Tippu-Tib's letter faces translation on page 391.

Explanation op Map op Upper Co^jgo 453-455

\f AP OF KivEfi Congo, from Stanley Falls to Kassongo (end of volume).

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

PAGE

Portrait of the late James S. Jameson" Frontispiece

\ White or Square-mouthed Rhinoceros (lihinoceros simus) . . . . xii

Slave Girl 9

Peter's Fetish 10

Boraa 11

Ango-Ango 12

Mission Eoad near Mpalaballji 14

Native Justice 22

Native Method of Bird-catching 23

Ivory War Horn 34

Diagram of Spiders' Webs ^ . . . . 36

Head of Native of Mswata 37

Kwamouth -±0

Pisherman's Hut 46

Shields 58

Native of Upoto 59

Native Village 60

Native Chief in top hat 62

Spears and Shield QQ

Entrenched Camp, Main Street 69

Rapids, from the Camp 80

Idol 84

Water Pot, Yambuya 85

Native Jar 92

Wataku Box 96

Yambuya. — "View looking down river from Entrenched Camp 98

Plan of Entrenched Camp, Yambuya 101

Matajabu Ill

Native Drinking-bowls 112

Chief's Grave, Yaweeko 117

Stanley FaUs .. 12]

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

A Champion 125

Singatini 127

Elephant's Head 133

Yambau 134

Selim bin Mahommed 136

A Native of the Upper Congo 140

Suckiug-Eish 143

Yambnya Palisade 155

Pattern on inside of Dish 159

Native Stool, Yambnya 160

Starving Zanzibari 165

War-Knife, Upoto 166

Native Method of Bird-catching 176

Mr. Jameson, drawn by H. Ward 177

My Home 179

Cowrie Head-dress 195

War-Knife from Lumami Eiver 201

Watakn Pottery 205

A Glimpse across Aruwimi Eiver 209

Small War-Knife 211

Slave Girl 213

My Friend " Masudi " 215

"Mashuknlu'' 219

"Curry-Eyes" 221

A Savage taking his ease 223

My Bow Paddle 228

Wamanga Rapids 231

Kibonge 233

Native of Wamanga 235

" A long shove, and a strong shove, and ujp she goes " . . . . 238

" And doivn she comes with a run " 239

Knife from Kassongo 243

'^Lukutula" 247

Wagania Village, near Kassongo 248

Landing-place, Kassongo 250

Double Drum, and Striker 252

Copper Money 252

Eoad to Ujiji 264

Native of Unyanembi . . , . , 267

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xi

PAGH

Drnmmer and Dancer of Quemba 270

Lamba-Lamba 271

Tippu-Tib 274

WaganiaHuts 276

" Nothing like Independence " 277

Native Woman in Market 279

One of Tippn-Tib's Gun-bearers 281

Longa-Longa 283

Muni Somai 295

Assimene 297

Bunch of Plantains 299

A New Way of Catching Chickens 304

Eiver Scene 308

Major Barttelot seated on the old Drum 309

Diagram of line of March 322

Native of Upper Congo 354

A Canoe Journey 367

The House in which Mr. Jameson died at Bangala 370

The Last Journey 372

Photograph of Grave 374

Native Yase 376

[The above was mounted, together with the larger portion of the late Mr. J. S. Jameson's Collection, by Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S.]

EDITOR'S NOTE.

These letters and diaries were not originally intended for publication ; but it has been thought that they may be read with interest by many, and that, having regard to the accusations recently made against the leaders o£ the Rear Column, it is desirable that they should be published in what is practically their original form, with only such alterations as their private nature required.

In the preparation of this work, I have throughout had the advantage of the constant advice and sympathetic help of my brother-in-law, Mr. Andrew Jameson.

I have received much kindness from Mr. Herbert Ward, who sealed and sent home those of Mr. Jameson^s diaries and papers which he brought with him to the coast^ and gave me several interesting sketches of his own for insertion in this volume. A still deeper debt of gratitude is due to him for the tender solicitude with which he nursed my husband during those last hours at Bangala,

I wish further to express my hearty thanks to several of my husband^s friends who have rendered me valuable assistance by preparing the scientific parts of this book, contained in the Appendices.

To Mr. E. Bowdler Sharpe, F.Z.S., I am indebted both for a sketch of Mr. Jameson's career as a naturalist, and for his very valuable paper on the birds of the Aruvvimi ; and

XIV EDITOR'S NOTE.

to Messrs. H. W. Bates, F.R.S., Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., F. DuCane Godman, F.R.S., and Herbert Druce, F.Z.S., my thanks are most deservedly due for the care they have bestowed upon the Entomological portion of the Appendices. It is a matter of deep regret that only a remnant of the collections made by Mr. Jameson on the Aruwimi ever reached my hands.

The Rev. J. M. Ron well has kindly rendered the translation of the Arabic letter from Tippu-Tib, and the Rev. Canon J. J. Carmichael, LL.D.j has merited my warmest thanks for his valuable help.

Finally, I would acknowledge the artistic skill with which Mr. Charles Whymper has reproduced the spirit of my husband's sketches, and the attention and courtesy shown me throughout by Mr. R. H. Porter in the publication of this book.

ETHEL JAMESON December 12th, 1890.

PREFACE,

**Let there be light." (Mr. Stanley's motto for ^In Darkest Africa.')

** Good name, in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls : Wlio steals my purse, steals trash : 'tis something, nothin:^ ; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ; But he, that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him^ And makes me poor indeed."

Never was the truth of these lines more vividly illustrated than in the case of the writer of this Diary. The dream of his early life was to add his name to the long roll of those who have striven for some good and useful object. At length the occasion offered itself^ as he believed^ in the Expedition in which he lost his life ; to join it he sacrificed his wealthy his home, his family joys and comfort, to live ^' laborious days,"*"* and find some scope for the pent-up energies within him. He went to his work with a strong zeal and lofty sense of right, did his duty with unselfish heroism in the face of treacheries and overw^helming difficulties, and died a martyr to the cause for which he had so nobly laboured. What is his reward ? Pie is sought to be made the scapegoat of his Commander's illjudgment and neglect ! Charges ot* disobedience, disloyalty, forgetfulness of promises, desertion, cruelty, cowardice, and murder are brought against him, on the authority of discredited liars, by a man who is driven to his wits^ end to sustain his

XVI PREFACE.

reputation against serious imperative accusations. The charges are brought against Jameson when he is in his grave, when the common usage of humanity suggests silence, and when a man of a noble and honourable cast of nature would altogether prefer to lie under an unjust suspicion rather than asperse and defame the voiceless dead. This, however, is not the course which Mr. Stanley has followed. Lest any tinge of discredit should rest on his own fame, he has striven to destroy that of others who are powerless to reply. Upon his remarkable Expedition into Central Africa there rests one dark blot — the disastrous fate of his Rear-Gruard, and Mr. Stanley is not a man to admit that he can make mistakes : no blame of any sort can be allowed to sully his record ; if the Rear-Guard was wrecked, it was, of course, because his skilful plans and careful orders were neglected and disobeyed ; no statement, however desperate and imaginary, will be kept back if only it serve to sustain his egotistical demands upon the credulous admiration of his readers ; and so, apparently unconscious of the possibility of contradiction, and fully conscious of the fact that the men whom he defames are dead, he casts the whole weight of blame upon their helpless heads. The first answer to Mr. Stanley^s charges comes from Captain Walter Barttelot; and it is a crushing one. His reply to this is a flood of malevolent gossip as wicked as it is unproven, in which good care is taken to make the least serious charges against the living, the gravest and most defamatory against the dead.

The amount of reliance that can be placed upon Mr. Stanley's accuracy is an easy question to determine. He suffers even abnormally from, that shortness of memory which is, according to a well-known proverb, said to be characteristic of a certain class of people. Thus, on November 8th, 1890, he denies the truth of statements respecting the Rear-Guard made by himself in a book published in the month of June of that self-same year. In Volume I. of 'In Darkest Africa,^ page 478, after giving a history of all the information he could get from Mr. Bonny, he says, ''^I have never obtained further light from Mr. Bonny, though at every leisure hour it was a constant theme '' (and indeed, from all accounts, it appears that Stanley spared no pains to get from him all he

PBEFAQE, xvii

knew). In the beginning of Vol. II. we find an account of the examination of witnesses from amongst the survivors of the Camp at Yambuya^ and the conclusions arrived at are plainly stated — the deaths at Yambuya were due to the manner in which the men cooked their food, among the members of the garrison there were many thieves, and punishments were numerous_, but were never inflicted except on those who deserved them. All this appears in the month of June 1890. Then Captain Walter Barttelot^s book is published, and Mr. Stanley must needs mend his hand_, and so on the 8th of November, 1890, he comes forth with fresh allegations against his officers, and tells a tale quite different from that which he had already published in ' In Darkest Africa.^ His first statement about the November story casts the gravest doubt upon it, for he says he heard it all at Yambuya in August 1888 (Banalya, a place ninety miles from Yambuya, must be what is meant, as Mr. Stanley never returned to Yambuya, but the mistake, whether intentional or not, is very convenient for him, and, curious to say, he has not yet corrected it). A considerable part of the November story comes from the lips of Mr. Bonny, but if Mr. Stanley heard it all in August 1888, how could he, although omitting all mention of it in ' In Darkest Africa,^ write that he had inserted therein all he had heard from Mr. Bonny ? Was then, the statement published November 8th, 1890, that which was told him by Bonny in August 1888, or was it not ? If it was, then the above statement by Mr. Stanley on the subject, published in ^ In Darkest Africa,'' was not true; if it was not the story told him in 1888, then Mr. Stanley's account of the real reasons which led him to condemn his officers, given in the most public and final manner, is absolutely false. On the second horn of this dilemma Mr. Stanley is inexorably fixed, for Mr. Bonny, in his statement to the ' Times,^ declares that he told these things to Stanley for the first time on Sunday, October 26th, 1890, and not at Banalya, on the Congo, in August 1888. That is to say, the only justification which Mr. Stanley, when put on his defence, produces for the condemnation of his officers in 1888, is hearsay evidence procured by him in 1890.

b xviii PREFACE.

It is worth while to expatiate a little upon this bold attempt of Mr. Stanley's to mislead people into believing that the evidence upon whicb he grounded his charge was obtained from a general inquiry into the matter made by him upon the Congo in 1888, and not upon the particular evidence of three witnesses obtained in 1890. For instance, he talks on this wise when introducing to public notice his charges of November 8th, 1890 :— ' "The sentence of my report with which Mr. Barttelot finds fault, and in which I censure the commander of the Rear Column, was written in August 1888, two days after I had met Mr. Bonny and the emaciated remnant of the Rear Column. On learning then the details of what had transpired during my absence, I wrote that the irresolution of the officers, the neglect of their promises, and their indifference to the written orders I gave them, had caused this woful collapse. You ask me to justify that censure. It will probably be the best way, in order to satisfy any legitimate interest in this question, to tell the story as I heard it at Yambuya, because in that way the public will better understand the shocking effect it had on me when, hastening to their reliefs I was met by the following revelations'^. And here comes the point. You will find in the log of my book ^ In Darkest Africa,' even in its abridged form, that the men of the Rear Column came forward to present their complaints ; and much of the following information I obtained from Mr. Bonny, the Zanzibaris, the Arabs, and the Manyema.'^ Then follow the statements which Stanley says were at that time made to him, the very first of them being the poisoning story, with which Mr. Bonny's most exciting statement has since made us familiar. But alas ! for the accuracy of Mr. Stanley, Bonny informs us that he told Stanley that tale on Sunday, October 26th, 1890, two years and two months after the date which Mr. Stanley fixes for its first recital. The fact is that Stanley deliberately endeavours to lead the public to believe that the evidence upon which he bases his foulest charges against the officers of the Rear-G-uard was obtained by him in August 1888, when, beyond yea or nay,

* The italics are my own. — A. J.

PREFACE, xix

he never got it till October 1890^ so far as Bonny is concerned, and Assad Farran only made his statement to him in Cairo in March of the same year.

In respect of the cannibal story^ a reader of Mr. Stanley^s statement of November 8th, 1890, would conclude that at Yambuya in 1888, an eye-witness of the scene drew up a statement in his own handwriting in the presence of witnesses; that this statement was shown to Mr. Stanley there, and is the one he publishes ; that the evidence taken on the subject by the Congo Free State authorities was also shown to him there, and that these facts were the principal reasons for the letter which he says he wrote to Jameson, but which has never since been seen, or even heard of, until now mentioned by Mr. Stanley himself. On the 10th November, 1890, however, he publishes another statement, in which he tells us that Bonny told him the story, that a Zanzibar! who had been at Stanley Falls corroborated it, and that he was told the Congo Free State authorities intended arresting Jameson. Where has the eye-witness gone to, and the evidence taken by the authorities which he relied on before? The eye-witness in this second statement is revealed in Assad Farran, and the evidence taken before the authorities dwindles to the story told him about their intentions. But how do the two statements look when read together ? Was not the first a plain attempt to make it appear that evidence obtained at a subsequent date was tendered to him at Yambuya, and does the second statement not show that Stanley^s real ^'^ witnesses '' were Bonny and Assad Farran? Does not Stanley publish the story Assad Farran teUs him in 1890, and Bonny vouch for the truth of it, only placing it all in the mouth of Jameson himself ?

It is absolutely necessary to nail Mr. Stanley to names and dates. He wants the public now to believe, contra his own already expressed statement, contra the inexorable logic of proven facts, that he was acquainted in August 1888 with all the charges of his outrageous indictment of November 8th, 1890, and that he then obtained the proofs of them from various witnesses among the survivors of the Bear-Guard, from Bonny, Arabs, Zanzibaris, and Manyema, and that, on the information

b2

XX PREFACE,

obtained in those two days of inquiry, lie wrote his condemnation of his officers.

" I had a grandmotlier, she had a donkey, And when that donkey looked lier in the face, His face was sad, and you are sad, my public."

In the enthusiasm of an evanescent hero-worship the British public sinks occasionally for a time below the level of its average sagacity It gazes with a sweet confiding affection upon the masculine idol of its temporary adoration ; but woe to him who would presume upon the constancy of that love ; it is too fickle and fastidious to have time or temper for lovers' quarrels and their proverbial results. By an inevitable reaction, it is certain soon to become as suspicious and exacting as it was once full of loud and intolerant confidence ; the more so, if it comes to think that there is any attempt to trifle with its amiable credulity. This is what Mr. Stanley will soon begin to feel. The idea is already abroad that he is seeking to delude the public judgment, especially in the way of insinuating that he is embarrassed by the number of his witnesses, when, in point of fact, he has produced but three — Bonny, Assad Farran, and Saleh ben Osman, his own Zanzibari servant. That it is perfectly possible for Mr. Stanley to produce many more witnesses of the type of Saleh ben Osman no one can doubt who is acquainted with the real nature of native evidence of this description ; and if the Congo Free State authorities had any wish to adopt his peculiar line of conduct, it is equally certain the application of the ^^ questioning ■''' system would be attended with satisfactory results.

But in what a light does all this place the author of ' In Darkest Africa ■'! Is it the pure light which shines round a man striving to make the truth known ? or is it the baneful gleam of those darksome shades in which Mr. Stanley tells us a vast crop of lying is germinated ?

He deals with his evidence like the Irish planners of an alibi. He changes the date to suit the necessities of his case ; with an astounding unfairness, he condemns his officers first, and tries them afterwards. Having failed in his efforts at the time and on the spot to obtain from Bonny and the coloured witnesses

PREFACE, XXI

sufficient condemnatory evidence against those whom he had deserted, and misled, he strove to work up a case against them by straining the obvious sense and purport of his orders ; b\ twisting and misrepresenting the writings of Barttelot and Jameson, so as to condemn them, if possible, out of their own mouths, then silenced for ever; and even by daring to break open the seals upon Jameson^s private diary and papers.

Never, in the history of slander, were charges so injurious as those levelled against the officers dependent upon more worthless testimony. It is incomprehensible how any man_, with the barest respect for his reputation, could make use of such instruments as two of Mr. Stanley^s witnesses. Assad Farran, the prime concocter of these shameless inventions, is a man who (as he himself puts it) would, if he were only questioned enough, ^^give all the information his examiners wanted ; " a man who, when he was asked by the Secretary of the Emin Pasha Relief Committee, Mr. Mac- Dermott, why he had told stories about the officers which he admitted were exaggerated and incorrect, replied ^' that he thought Major Barttelot and Mr. Jameson had not treated him well, that he had been sent away without clothes or food, and his feeling was bad ; '' and then he added, " that when those to whom he made his statement on the Congo kept questioning, questioning, and would not let him alone, he had to say all fchey wanted him to say."*''

This is the man who, in March 1890, first told Mr. Stanley some of the stories which that gentleman stated he heard on the Congo in 1888. Nor is Saleh ben Osman, Mr. Stanley's Zanzibari servant, a more reliable witness than the pitifully discredited Assad Farran. The statement of this wortliy, who does not pretend to be an eye-witness of anything, is translated by Mr. Glave, and is a most extraordinary document, bearing its own refutation on its face. At the best it is a mere rechauffe of what he had heard concerning these events from Zanzibaris, Arabs, Manyemas, and Soudanese, and if the information derived at first hand from such witnesses is unreliable, what does it become when filtered tlirough the head of a Zanzibari servant two years after he had heard the tales he tells ?

xxil PREFACE.

No one knows better than Mr. Stanley the utter untrustworthiness of these Zanzibaris, and the ease with which they may be made to say anything by " questioning, questioning/'' Even his own character is not safe in their hands, for he is accused by one of the tribe of ordering a live baby to be drowned in the Congo {vide page 111 in Diary), and the Zanzibari who made this statement had no apparent motive for telling a lie, which can hardly be asserted about Mr. Stanley^s most useful witness.

Mr. Stanley is certainly unfortunate in being placed in a position where he must stake his credit on the veracity of such men as these. He has only produced three witnesses at the best : two of them have been proved unworthy of the slightest belief, and the third_, his piece de resistance, Mr. Bonny, is far from being as satisfactory as the cause of justice would require.